Identification tags, such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, printed labels displaying a visual code such as a bar code or a Quick Response (QR) code, and the like, are typically attached to objects for information and/or tracking purposes, where information may be written to a tag and later read by an external reader. Information stored on a tag may include an object identifier (ID) that distinguishes the object from other objects. For example, a medical laboratory may attach tags to vials containing patient blood samples, where each tag includes a unique object ID identifying the vial to which it is attached, which object ID may then be recorded and mapped to the patient from whom the sample was taken.
While tags may be used to provide information about individual objects, it may be desirable to associate objects with other objects. For example, where a patient blood sample in one “parent” vial is divided into several other “child” vials, each destined for a different type of analysis, the object ID of each child vial's tag may be recorded in a database together with the object ID of the parent vial's tag. However, where the contents of child vials are further distributed to several other “grandchild” vials, or when vials are sent outside of an organization, managing the hierarchy of object relationships using object IDs of otherwise unrelated tags may become cumbersome.